


In Sand Dunes You Are Walking

by Alenoriana



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), My Chemical Romance, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Better Living Industries, Blood and Injury, Broken Bones, Draculoids, Electrocution, Everyone thought Party was dead, Flashbacks, Ghoul is just happy he found his friend, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Injured Party, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Partial Mind Control, The Phoenix Witch - Freeform, Torture, i don't know how to tag, life in the desert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2018-10-27 00:49:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10798272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alenoriana/pseuds/Alenoriana
Summary: Party was gone. He just disappeared one sunny day year ago and no one saw him ever again. Everyone, including the remaining Killjoys thought he was dead. But death isn't always that simple, is she?Or: Where Party Poison was lost and then found again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm new here, and i hope we will become good friends!  
> This is my first work. I never really wrote something ship before, but it turned out better than i was expecting at the beginning.  
> And, well, english is not my native language, but please, give me a chance, i really tried. And i don't actually think the Warning is necessary, but well...  
> I hope you guys will like my little Fun Poison thing.  
> Love you, signing from Czech <3

They drove for a long time. For hours. The scenery around them was still same, sandy and hot. Here and there appeared some old ruins or withered tree, abandoned buildings or dry gas stations. Setting sun colored everything orange and created long shadows in sand. It will disappear soon and accumulated heat in the ground will start to run away and the night will be cold and silent. Fun Ghoul had his head resting on the car door and was watching the fiery horizon through the cloud of dust the Trans AM lifted from the barely visible road. He rubbed his eyes. Today was an exhausting day. They had to go to a border of the zone because the Dinner was running out of supplies. They needed more food, water, medicaments… Almost every day some young punk who tried to be a hero appeared by their door with some kind of injury. In better cases. Every day they listened to Dr. Death Defying as he reported new names, new rebels who died for freedom. More and more names. Never ending battle. Ghoul stifled a yawn. It was everything the Killjoys could do for them. New members of the revolt looked up to them, saw them like some idols of theirs. But the truth was they were only human after all, just like everyone else. Vulnerable, mortal… and only three of them now. No one actually knew what happened to Party Poison almost a year ago. In that particular day, it had seemed just like any other day, just classic watch routine, thousand times done. Party had taken a motorbike, he had said he didn’t want to waste the fuel with a car. Ghoul had offered to go with him, but the redhead had just declined with a smile and without another word had driven away. He had been supposed to return in few hours, before twilight. But he hadn’t returned that day. He never returned. 

Ghoul, Jet Star and Kobra Kid went to look for him of course, but the only thing they found was shattered motorbike and around it dried splashes of blood. No bodies, nothing more. But they didn’t give up. Weeks after weeks they were seeking tracks, information from BLI, trying to find any indications that they friend could still be alive. But there was nothing. He just… disappeared. And when even after months hadn’t came any hints that he could have been captured or something, they slowly started put up with him really being gone forever. The first one to realize it was Jet. Kobra Kid was defying it, his normally calm attitude became emotional and aggressive, but in the end even he accepted the fact that his brother was dead. Ghoul didn’t want to give up. He refused it, he was freaking out and raging around and yelling at everyone, he tried to search on his own, but everything was useless. So after nights full of tears and sobs, he had to face it, that he will never see his best friend ever again. The thought of it still stabbed him in his chest and he shook his head to get rid of it. It hurt to think of Party Poison. He had spent dozens of evenings and nights going over that day, over what he could have done differently. He could have insisted to accompany him. He could have taken the watch that day. He could have done something. But he hadn’t and the infamous Killjoys lost their leader. They didn’t split up after that, they continued in their task, but it wasn’t the same. It never will be. But their duty called them into action again and again and they had to fight. It was why they now drove back to Dinner, exhausted and dirty. Well, more than normally. Jet Star silently fell asleep in the passenger seat while Kobra Kid was driving. He was the best driver among them now, and even when they took turns, he kind of automatically accepted the role of main driver. Ghoul turned his eyes back to horizon. The sun was nearly gone. Fortunately they were almost there, he couldn’t wait to fall into his corner and finally let his guard down. It seemed like he never relaxed in these days. His eyelids started to drop and he blinked few times to fight off sleep. He focused on the passing desert. The sunlight danced over sand dunes, except for one place. Fun frowned and straightened up from the old tattered car seat he was sagged in. Long shadow belonged to one lonely figure in distance. He couldn’t make much out of it even when he squinted his eyes, but he would recognize that angry red everywhere.

“Stop!” he shouted at Kobra without looking away. 

Jet Star startled awake and grabbed his gun by instinct. Kid turned at the dark haired man in the backseat with confused eyes.

“Stop, stop the car!” he exclaimed frantically and shook with the driver’s seat. 

Kobra hit the brakes although he didn’t know why, but the urgency in Ghoul’s voice was enough for him to listen. Before the car fully stopped, lifting huge cloud of sand in process, Ghoul was opening the back door and getting out. He run up small hill by the road and shielded his eyes against the sun. The man in the distance was still there, so it wasn’t some hallucination. When Jet and Kobra caught up with him he pointed a finger in the direction he was looking. Both men squinted. 

“You are fucking kidding me…!” Star gasped after a while. 

Ghoul stared. That couldn’t… could it be true? Wasn’t he just dreaming? But the guys saw it too, didn’t they? So it couldn’t be just some image made by his tired brain… He moved forward, when hand on his chest stopped him. He looked at Kobra, whom it belonged to. 

“I have a bad feeling. It could be a trap,” he muttered and his bright eyes scanned surrounding desolation. 

Ghoul had to admit, Kid had a point. This was exactly the type of vileness the BLI and S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W were capable of just to got them. They had run into one group of Draculoids already today on a place which was supposed to be safe. But even then…

“What if it isn’t?” said the smaller man and silently regarded his comrades. 

Jet Star looked like he wanted to run straight ahead, but Kid was hesitating. Fun got it, his responsibility of the current leader and newfound hope of finding his brother must have been fighting in his head like crazy right now. He felt it similarly himself, but to be honest, even the slightest piece of hope of finding Party Poison would beat the shit out of anything else in his mind in this moment. Eventually Kobra nodded.

“We must be careful,” he said and turned back to the car. 

Jet and Ghoul followed him quickly and when the doors closed behind them Kobra drifted out of the road. Trans AM turned its wheels in soft sand. Ghoul stood up in the back seat and dragged his body through the roof window. He looked around, but there was no enemy in sight, neither a place to hide any possible ambushers. Nothing except their current target. He concentrated on him again as they got closer. His heart started to beat fast, because with every meter Ghoul grew more and more sure it was really true. They stopped about twenty meters away from him. Fun got quickly through the car and the three of them got out. Ghoul felt his palms sweat and his muscles were all tensed. He barely suppressed the need to run. If it really was Party Poison, how the hell did he get here? Ghoul stilled when he noticed Jet and Kobra stopped walking. The man before them continued to limp slowly forward, his back turned to them. He was barefoot, his tight white trousers weren’t white anymore and one of their legs was missing down the knee. On his skinny torso was hanging a black undershirt with few holes in it. In his right hand he was holding Drac blaster. Kobra slightly nudged Ghoul to continue. Dark haired man gulped nervously, but started walking again.

“Party?” he asked quietly when he was only few steps from him. 

The redhead stopped. He seemed he noticed them just now. Ghoul reached carefully to his gun. He didn’t know what to expect.

“Gee?” he tried again when nothing happened. 

The man before him slowly turned to face him and Ghoul’s breath hitched. He knew these eyes, he knew that face. Party Poison looked at him from behind the curtain of his red, dirty, tangled hair. Ghoul saw dried blood under his nose and around his mouth. He looked him over quickly. On his clothes, there were blood stains too. His feet were sore and scratched from the rough sand. His arms full of bruises, some old, some quite new. One truly ugly run around his neck, on some places was even visible bared flash. While his right hand clutched the gun, his left arm was hanging along his body limply and his wrist was in a strange angle. His hazel eyes looked empty and dead.

“That’s not possible…” Ghoul whispered and inadvertently took a step towards him. 

Suddenly Party raised his blaster and aimed at him, than stumbled back and nearly lost his balance. Fun hold up his empty hands quickly. He heard Jet and Kobra behind him draw their guns. 

“Hey, hey, it’s me…” he blurted and tried to calm his own alarmed voice. 

Party regarded him, but didn’t seem to actually see him. His sight was fogged and glassy and his hand shook violently. 

“Party, it’s me, Ghoul. I will not harm you,” Fun continued calmly and took a tiny step forward. 

Poison didn’t say anything, but he flinched. Fun heard his fast and erratic breathing. What had happened to him? Where had he disappeared? And how the hell had he ended up here? The questions bombarded Ghoul’s mind, but he tried to ignore them. They can figure them all later. Now he had to deal with a damn fucking blaster still pointing at his head.

“Gerard, you hear me? It’s just me,” he tried again and smiled encouragingly. 

The redhead shuddered strongly, but didn’t lower his hand. The same distance Ghoul was getting closer to him, he receded. There was visible panic growing in his features. 

“You know us. You know me. It’s me… Frank,” he whispered pleadingly. 

He had to recognize him. They were best friends, why didn’t he recognize him? What had they done to him? Party blinked few times. His eyes moved to Kobra and Jet for a few seconds then glanced over the desert around. It seemed like he realized where he was just now. When he looked back at Ghoul a tiny weak smile appeared on his bloody lips. Fun didn’t have time to return it, because in that moment redhead’s eyes crossed and rolled back into his head and he lost balance. The blaster fell out of his fingers and his body dropped heavily into the warm sand. 

“Gee!” The short man yelled and rushed forward. 

He was too slow to catch him, but he fell on his knees beside him. He grabbed the gun absentmindedly and threw it away, just out of habit. He took off his gloves and placed his shaky hands on Poison’s chest. He stared with wide eyes into the unmoving face below him. The setting sun made the red hair around it a fiery halo. It had to be only second or two, but it seemed like eternity when he felt slight rise and fall under his palm. He let out a relived breath. Party was breathing, shallowly but he was breathing. His skin was even paler than Ghoul remembered. There were dark circles around his eyes and his lips were chapped. Before Fun had time to say anything Jet Star appeared beside him with a bottle of water. He poured some of in on Poison’s face. Ghoul saw barely visible movement under the eyelids.

“Hey, Party. Wake up,” Jet gently patted his cheeks. 

Poison wheezed weakly. Ghoul took him under his shoulders, lifted him carefully and sat behind him to support him. He let him lean on him heavily and took the bottle from Jet. He shook him gently.

“Wake up. Gee, you need to drink something,” he whispered and held the bottle neck to his lips. 

Party slowly opened his eyes and looked at him sleepily. After a while he took to orient himself he nodded slightly. Ghoul watched him as he took small sips of warm water. He still couldn’t believe it. All that months and now… he was just back. Suddenly he was back and Ghoul didn’t even know how it all happened. He was still too shocked to comprehend the happiness he was feeling. And the worries. Party let out a quiet sound and Fun put the bottle aside. To be honest, he looked a mess. When he was holding him now, he could feel his body thinner than he remembered. He bet he would be able to count his ribs under the thin black fabric. He brushed his hair full of sand and sweat out of his face and took the bottle again. He poured a little into his own palm and started cleaning the dried blood out of Party’s skin. The red haired boy didn’t resist, he didn’t even seem to fully register what Ghoul was doing. When he cleaned the most of the gore away, his eyes dropped to ugly line running round Poison’s neck. It looked kind of like some rope mark… His stomach turned from the image and he looked away quickly. When he looked up he noticed Kobra was going back to get the car. With the wheels slipping in sand he got the Trans AM to them. Ghoul looked back at Party, but found his eyes closed as he probably fell unconscious again. 

“Party…” he shook him slightly, but he didn’t want to wake him up again honestly. 

He must have been exhausted, dehydrated and maybe wounded. They didn’t know how long had he been walking in the desert, could have been for hours, but could have even been days.  
The question was still lingering in the air: How he got here and what had happened year ago?  
But they could get the answers only from him and that had to wait. They had to get him to safety first and fix him. Ghoul slipped his arms under Party’s shoulder blades and knees to lift him. He didn’t even have a chance to try, before Jet stopped him.

“I will carry him, you open the door,” he said and his arms quickly replaced Fun’s.  
Though shorter man hated it and under other circumstances he would be maybe even pissed of that others took over his responsibilities because of his smallness, now he just shrugged it off. While Jet lifted Poison into his arms like he weighed nothing, Ghoul picked up the abandoned blaster (after all, they needed all weapons they could get) and quickly opened the car back door. He got in first and helped Star to lay the red haired boy down on the back seat. When the doors closed behind them Ghoul pulled Party closer into his arms and placed his head gently onto his own lap. He brushed hair away from his face again. Jet Star returned to his passenger seat and Kobra turned on the engine. The two of them still looked around nervously awaiting some kind of trap or ambush. But aside from the Trans AM everything was silent and still. They rocked on sand dunes and through empty window frames flew inside lifted sand grains. The sun finally disappeared and everything was slowly drowning in the darkening dusk. Stars will begin to appear in few minutes and heat of the day will vanish into cold desert night. 

They got to unobtrusive road and started driving towards the Dinner. Ghoul thought how lucky they were to notice Party. If he hadn’t looked out of the window or if they had been just few minutes later, sun would have been gone before they would have the chance to see him. They would had had just missed him and wouldn’t had even known it. He would had died somewhere in the desolation. Died of thirst, of hunger, or frozen to death in the night. Ghoul shivered as he thought about the possible sceneries that could had happened and he stroked Party’s head absentmindedly. In the vanishing light he still saw his features, his soft yet little bit hollowed cheeks, his pointy pixie nose, his sharp eyebrows and long dark lashes. Ghoul’s eyes travelled back to the brutal bruise on his neck, but quickly followed further down his body, before his brain started making images again. They stopped on his left wrist. Fun carefully lifted it and examined it. He almost forgot about it, but now he had the chance to take a good look at it he saw the unnatural angle it was limply hanging in. He frowned. It looked dislocated in a pretty ugly way. When he pulled it closer to his eyes to see it in the thickening dark Party made a small pained sound. Ghoul put his hand back down and hushed him gently, stroking his hair again. Another thing they had to take care of later. He sighed heavily and looked out the window. Now cold air run through his raven hair and few sand grains hit his face. The stars were awakening. He watched them as they slowly appeared on the dark clear sky. He always loved watching stars, especially here in the desert, far away from blinding lights of the Battery City. He felt Poison shiver. He looked down at him and found him still sleeping, yet his body was starting to shake as night wind hit him. Ghoul carefully bent down and fumbled his hand under the seat. After few seconds his fingers found rough cloth. He pulled out old blanket with few holes in it and unfolded it. He covered the redhead with it and pulled the thick fabric up to his neck. After few minutes he frowned because the shivers didn’t stop. The sleeping man even flinched several times and his eyes were moving under his eyelids. He whimpered weakly, then gasped, clear fear written all over his face. 

“Party… Party,” Ghoul whispered. 

This wasn’t caused by cold. This was a nightmare. And very live one. Like the poor boy didn’t have enough, he couldn’t even sleep in peace. 

“What’s going on?” Jet Star asked quietly and turned to them. He looked tired, all of them did, and there was worry in his eyes.

“I think he has a nightmare,” Fun said and run hand through Poison’s hair as another shiver wave hit him and he whined silently. 

“Shouldn’t we like… wake him up, or something?” Kobra suggested and looked at them in rearview mirror. Ghoul shook his head.

“I don’t think we would be even able to,” he sighed. Party needed sleep, but Fun didn’t want to let him be hunted by night horrors. He didn’t know what they were, but he had bad feeling they had came in the year Party was missing. Fun knew how horrible they were able to be, he had experienced them himself. Not often, but sometimes. He used to wake up covered in sweat and with mute screams of dread. In that situations he would get up and move away from the group to not wake them all up and try to calm down. But sometimes Party would find him and would sit beside him with understanding eyes. He would let Ghoul lean his head on his shoulder and together they would wait for his beating heart to slow down. Ghoul blinked suddenly and looked at Jet who was still turned in his seat watching them. The shorter man smiled lightly and pulled Party closer to into his arms. He started to hum. Star raised his eyebrows surprised, but then realized what Fun was trying to do. He nodded slightly and sat back down. He used to do it. Back then when Ghoul would not be able to close his eyes again, Party would just hum melodies and songs and the dark haired man would just let himself be lulled back to sleep. Now it was Fun who was crooning and running his fingers through red strands of hair. It took only few minutes for Party to calm down. His breathing slowed and he stopped trashing. Fun Ghoul smiled and kissed his forehead happily.

“I’m glad you are back,” he mumbled quietly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And when he is back, the nights become lighter and hearts heavier. 
> 
> Or: Party was found and fortunately will be saved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So, my first chapter of Sand Dunes went pretty well, and few of you sweethearts asked for another part, so here it is!
> 
> Hope you will like it and warning, it's not so cute as the previous one.
> 
> Love you, signing from Czech <3

Party slept for two days. Two days, eight hours and sixteen minutes, to be exact. Ghoul knew it exactly. Cause he sat beside him and guarded him the whole time. Well, he slept a while too, but he guarded him even in his sleep. Kobra and Jet Star got it so they let him and did their schedule watch just two of them. They were lucky they had fresh supplies though, they needed it. When they brought Party back, first thing to take care of were his injuries. And it was not a beautiful job to do. When they managed to strip him of his dirty and stained clothes, Ghoul had to suppress need to vomit. Not because of Party naked, dear god no, but because of what had been done to his body. Aside from dislocated wrist he had few cracked ribs which were clearly visible under thin pale skin. Across his back there were long red lines running from his shoulders to his lower back crossing in sinister Xs. On his tights and hips were scratches and bruises and Ghoul had to turn away for a moment when he realized what probably caused them. He suppressed tears of anger which welled in his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. What kind of monsters could have done those things? What gave them the right to do this to someone? And why it had to be Gee? His Gee… 

Ghoul wondered how Kobra Kid took it all so well. The whole process of cleaning wounds, which cost them all spare water they had, and following nursing and bandaging them up he sported stoic expression and his hands moved quickly and mechanically. Fun didn’t want to ask what was actually behind the poker mask. He knew. When they were finally done more than anything Poison looked like half-mummy. The bandages they could use were wrapped around his torso, his ankles and feet, because rough desert sand had its fun with him too, his neck where the rope mark still was, and of course his left hand. They had to relocate his wrist into its socket, and thank god Party wasn’t conscious in the process. After long discussion they succeeded and strengthened it with small piece of wooden plank as a splint, attaching it by remaining bandage. It was all they could do. After that they dressed him in shorts Show Pony forgot there long time ago and Kobras baggy T-shirt and laid him in Ghoul’s bed. The dark haired man insisted on the last thing. And from that moment he was sitting beside him. Or lying or just moving around and doing stuff. Every now and then he gave him water, fortunately Party was able to sip and swallow even in his sleep, or Ghoul wouldn’t know how to stop further dehydration. But otherwise nothing happened. Two long days nothing happened. So when Ghoul jerked awake in the middle of the night, it was a big surprise for him to find the bed beside him empty. Of course he got a fright.

*

Pain. It was the only thing he was capable of thinking about right now. He laid wrapped into a tiny ball on the floor, his legs pulled tightly to his shivering body. He almost didn’t see, his eyes were full of his own dried blood, so was his hair and tights and actually he got it all over himself. Sharp stabbing pain run in waves through his spine, his back burned and yet he was so cold. With his poor vision he saw black boots walking around his head. Everything was so silent, only thing he heard was his own ragged breathing. Then fast rustle of movement came and paralyzing blow to the centre of his back. He arched like a bow and gasped in pain. And then again, this time from the front right to his unprotected chest. He heard more than felt the cracking of bones and his vision went black for a moment. Every breath he took was like a stab of knife. Someone’s hand tangled in his hair and jerked his head up. He made a hardly audible whimper. 

“Ya know, my men were looking forward to get to play with you today,” the voice said right next to his ear. He couldn’t do much more than scratch with his nails on the hand that gripped him. His wrist was suddenly grabbed, hard.

“But I guess I changed my mind. I have too much fun with you today to let anybody borrow you…” the voice said with sadistically amused tone. 

The grip in his hair let go and now both hands were holding his own, one his forearm and the other the palm. They started to rotate. He wasn’t even able to scream when the snap came and sharp pain shot up his whole arm. He shuddered and hot tears escaped through the blood pasted eyelashes. 

“Aww… I love it when I make you cry,” the voice contemplated somewhere above him. He would puke from disgust now if he could.

*

“Party?” Ghoul straightened up from his blanked on the floor and looked around the dark room quickly. 

In the weak light of the moon coming inside through barricaded windows he could see the shapes of the few pieces of furniture they had. He heard pair of heavy breaths from the back of the room, Kobra and Jet. But his bed was empty. He scrambled to his feet quickly.

“Party?” he tried again and scanned their living area with his eyes, but everything remained unmoving. And then he heard it. There was barely audible noise from the front room almost unnoticeable if it wasn’t for the dead silence all around. He sneaked to the door and noticed it was slightly opened, just an inch. He pushed it with his fingers lightly and looked outside.  
Here the moonlight could pour freely inside the room through big glass windows and everything was more or less clearly visible. Fun took a deep breath when he spotted dark figure in front of him.  
Party was leaning on the counter heavily and was wheezing slightly. His back was turned to him so he couldn’t see Ghoul, but the dark haired man could see the way he had his right hand sneaked around his chest tightly and was shuddering all over. 

“Party?” Ghoul whispered quietly to not frighten him. His effort fell flat, because the redhead jumped and whirled around. His light eyes were wide open and he just stared for few seconds without a blink. 

“You are awake,” Ghoul smiled happily. The silent moment when they just looked at each other lasted for exactly two breaths before Party charged. He grabbed the first thing on the counter and threw it on Fun Ghoul.

*

He kneeled on his heels. His head was hanging in between his shoulders and he hardly kept himself straight. He was so tired… but he knew that if he fell asleep, it would be only worse. He heard a quiet conversation of two people behind him, but couldn’t make out words. Everything was unclear hum for him, like form very long distance or like under water. He felt his muscles going slack and he wiled himself to straighten up again. He was so tired… He was sitting like this for hours. Or was it days already? He gave up trying to keep the notion of time. He didn’t know the date, he didn’t know the month… he didn’t even know if it was day or night outside right now. Everything was just one long while divided only by his gracious falls into unconsciousness. That sweet, kind, calm darkness brought by the void… 

Hard impact on the floor startled him awake. His head collided heavily with smooth tiles and he flinched with fear, when he realized he fell. 

“Ha! I knew he wouldn’t make it!” sharp amused voice echoed through the room. He shivered in terror but didn’t dare to move further. Another voice mumbled something a little bit annoyed and the first one laughed. He heard steps approach him. They stopped by his head. He closed his eyes tightly and shivered some more, when he felt rough fingers running across his nape. 

“Thank you, deary,” the voice said.  
“You just won me a bet. Which means: I choose what we will do now.” 

He noticed something was being pulled over his head. His eyes snapped open and his still functional hand tried to catch it when he felt it tighten around his neck. He gasped when the rough rope cut into his skin. He almost managed to pry his fingers underneath it to pull it off, when someone sharply yanked it up. The noose closed around his throat and cut of the air, letting him gasping mutely. He tried to scramble to his numb feet to ease the pressure, but more he stood up more the rope got pulled up. He ended balancing on his toes and red dots started to run before his eyes. His hand trying to hold the rope started to be slow and clumsy. Suddenly the pull disappeared and without anything to catch himself on he fell to his knees. He gasped and coughed when he managed to stretch the noose a little bit allowing him to breathe. The moment his vision became clear though, he was being pulled up again, this time higher so his feet jerked in the air. And then again, and again, and again, and again…

*

Ghoul barely jumped out of the trajectory of flying wrench. The hard metal hit the door behind him, made a hole in it and with loud rattle ended up on the floor. Before startled Killjoy had time to look back up though, something banged him in the head with hollow sheet metal sound. He staggered in shock when sting of pain blossomed within his skull for a moment. He had to blink away black spots appearing in his vision. When he recuperated himself he realized he was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall behind him. It had been probably a little harder hit than he thought. He shook his head slightly to clear it. His eyes dropped to dipped can lying harmlessly next to him, looking so innocent. He frowned at it. Everyone letting random stuff lie all around … 

Then he remembered the initiator of the throw and quickly looked up. The room was empty, but the glass front door hadn’t closed completely yet. Ghoul began to stand up, but he almost fell back on his ass. He leaned on the wall and stabilized himself, then blinked some more. In that moment the door next to him flew open and Kobra Kid and Jet Star rushed outside, their weapons ready and set. They quickly checked the whole room with aimed blasters before they noticed Ghoul standing behind them.

“What the hell happened?” Kobra asked when he noticed Ghoul’s slight disorientation and the hole in the door. But the shorter man ignored him he just stared at the front door. He willed his body to move and pushed himself around Kobra.

“Party…” he just said when he passed him. 

He ran out of the Dinner and looked round. The moonlight was drowning the desert in cool blue and withered bushes created scary shadows. Fun suppressed shudder from the cold that attacked him immediately and the frigid night wind threw his long black hair everywhere, even into his own face. He brushed it away and scanned area around with his squinted eyes. 

He couldn’t get too far he had only few seconds start. 

He spotted a dark silhouette running into darkness. Party’s only advantage was that he was almost invisible, because he made it only about hundred yards away from the Dinner before Ghoul noticed him. 

“Party!” Fun called out and went after him. He saw him looking over his shoulder and then speeding up and running blindly into the desert. What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Ghoul was a fast runner, but he wondered how the hell Poison managed to sprint this fast in his state.

“Party wait!” he shouted again when he got just about ten yards from him. Now he saw how Party was slightly limping on one leg and how he pressed his left arm tightly to his body. He even heard his ragged breathing. It sounded painful. 

And then suddenly Party fell. One foot got stuck in the sand for a little too long and he toppled to the ground with a muffled cry out.

“Gee!” Ghoul exclaimed and dropped to his knees beside him. He carefully took hold of his shoulders and tried to turn him, but in that moment Party gave a violent lurch and tossed a handful of sand into his face. Fun flinched back and shielded his eyes which got few grains in them. He blinked and coughed when he breathed some sand into his lungs too, but he collected himself fast enough to see Party scrambling to his feet and going for another escape. Ghoul jumped up and grabbed his T-shirt.

“Stop it!” he breathed out but had to let go of him quickly when just an inch away from his face a sharp screwdriver slashed through the air. He took two shocked steps backwards. Poison now stood facing him in defensive stance, the metal tool in his hand raised and prepared. He must have taken it when he knocked Ghoul down with the insidious can before. There was clear panic and fear in his eyes, but also a primal determination to fight for his life. Ghoul raised his hands. 

“Party it’s just me. I’m not gonna harm you,” he said calmingly. Not this again please. He didn’t want to experience the feeling of his best friend aiming at him and not recognizing him again. Party looked round terrified.

“Where am I?” he asked with weak tremulous voice and draw a bead on Ghoul with the screwdriver. He was shaking. Fun’s heart jumped a little in his chest when he heard him speak finally. Like it wasn’t real, like he wasn’t actually back till he did so. But when he heared his voice, even hoarse and frightened, he was finally calm he got him really back. 

“We are at the Dinner, Party. You are safe here,” he explained slowly. He heard steps of Kid and Jet behind him, but he didn’t turn, just raised one of his hands a little higher to signal for them to wait. Poison seemed confused and looked round again, but his guard dropped a little.

“We found you two days ago nearby in the desert. Jet Star, Kobra Kid and I. We brought you back here,” he continued calmly. Party made a quiet sound of frustration and shifted uncertainly. 

“Frankie…?” he tried doubtfully as if he wasn’t sure he got it right. As if he wasn’t sure it was true. Ghoul smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, it’s me,” he said and took a cautious step closer. He regarded the screwdriver still aimed somewhere at his stomach carefully.

“It’s me and you are safe. You are with us, Party. No one will hurt you,” he continued and looked up, his eyes catching redhead’s wide ones. The slightly taller man stared at him and his lower lip trembled lightly. Ghoul got slowly close enough to touch.

“See? I won’t do anything to you. Now… give me the screwdriver Party,” he said and gently touched Poison’s hand. When he didn’t wince or anything, he took his palm carefully and pulled the tool out from his fingers. The redhead let him. When Ghoul had the improvised weapon safely in his hands, he turned and tossed it to Kobra who stood with Jet few yards behind them. The blond skillfully caught it and tucked it behind his belt. When Fun looked back to Poison though, his breath hitched. Party had tears welling in his beautiful hazel eyes.

“Fraknie…” he sobbed and threw himself into Ghouls embrace. The dark haired man gripped his arms around him quickly. Party’s body started to shook with desperate sobs and Fun felt him lean more and more of his weigh on him. Because of not wanting to fall to the ground if Party Poison collapsed, Ghoul hugged him tightly and slowly lowered them both into sand. When they were safely sat down, Party buried his face in the crook of Fun’s neck and started to cry. 

Ghoul never saw him cry. None of them did. Well, maybe Kobra did, but a very long time ago. He was always the strong one, the one determined to do anything for the rebellion. It was actually Ghoul who used to be the emotional heap of sentiment sometimes. But Party Poison was the leader. And now he was hidden in his arms, shuddering with hot tears soaking into dusty cloth of Ghoul’s shirt. He embraced him a little bit more tightly, careful not to press on his broken ribs. He stroked his hair with shaky hand.

“Shh… it’s okay. It’s all good now…” he soothed him quietly. He had to swallow pass the dumpling creating itself in his throat. He didn’t know whether it were tears of happiness, relief, dread of past or just because he could cry for once and he didn’t care. He held Party in his arms and just… was. Now and there. He looked up at the night sky. Today stars were beautifully visible. They ran in a long pass into distance where they disappeared over the edge of horizon. They seemed so fresh and calming… 

He felt hand on his shoulder. He looked over and saw Kid standing beside him and watching him with unobtrusive smile. When he saw he had Ghoul's attention he jerked his head in direction of the Dinner. Ghoul sighed slightly, but nodded afterwards. He looked back down at Party who calmed down in the meantime and now was just lying comfortably in his arms. He wasn’t asleep, Ghoul could tell by the still hitching breathing. He had his face hidden in Fun’s neck and wasn’t shivering anymore though.

“Party…” He patted his hair again. The man moved slightly, he was listening.

“We can’t stay here. We need to go inside,” Fun whispered and pulled back so he could look Poison in the face. Even only in the moonlight he could see his reddened eyes and wet cheeks. Ghoul smiled and brushed a scarlet strand of hair behind his ear. 

“We gonna go inside, okay?” he repeated. Party nodded slowly. Ghoul stood up and grabbed him by his elbows and hoisted him carefully up. When he was standing, Fun wrapped one arm around his waist gently and let him lean into him. They slowly walked back to the Dinner.

When Ghoul finally got Party into bed again, the lad was nearly asleep on his feet. Fun tucked him in and was about to lie down onto his own blanket on the floor, when cold fingers caught his wrist lightly. Party watched him with his eyelids slightly ajar but was silent. After a moment he tugged on his hand. Ghoul understood. With a smile he lied down beside him and covered them both with the blanket. Party snuggled next to him and pressed his cool hand somewhere into Fun’s side. He laid his head on the dark haired man’s chest and Ghoul sneaked arm under him to wrap it around his shoulders. He pulled him closer and soon he heard him breathe heavily as the sleep took over him. This was right. A lot of things wasn’t, a lot of them was terrible and awful and bad, but this… this was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!  
> Leave Kudos <3, leave comments, whatever you feel like today!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And way down they go, the good things turn bad again.
> 
> Or: When Party was saved and lost again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. I'm really sorry that it took me almost a year to continue. I kind of lost myself in my other frerard story, but I returned!  
> But yey! Here is another chapter of Sand dunes, and I promise the next two will be faster, cause I already made a full translation.  
> Also, I apologise for mistakes, I have no beta read.
> 
> Hope you will like it,  
> love you,  
> signing from Czech <3

Fun Ghoul stood behind the counter and was fiddling with radio he had laid and opened in front of him. Jet and Kobra brought it to him. It wasn’t working, but the young mechanic was determined he will repair it. If he was able to make the Trans AM work, from the wreck it used to be when they found it, he could do this. Just few new cabled and wires, a little bit of welding and jeej! It was almost alive again! Ghoul looked up from his work often, though. He was watching over the man sitting in the dinning box in front of him, who occupied their current radio at the time. It was playing silently now. Party was slumped in the corner seat, his legs crossed under him and pile of papers on the table. He was wearing Ghoul’s jeans, which were a little bit short, yes, but with his new thinness fit him quite nicely. He had Jet’s black jacket over his shoulders. The guys even managed to find some boots for him, somehow in the land of no one. But he didn’t have to be walking bare foot, which was good. Fun put the screwdriver down and leaned on the counter a little while he watched him. Poison was hunched over… something he was sketching right now with a black pencil. He put it down every few minutes to take a biscuit, though, because his left hand was still in the splint, lying in his lap uselessly. The morning he woke up, after the night chase in the desert, they gave him one of the BLI cans they had a ton of now luckily. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bad idea, because the redhead threw up after first few bites. That’s why biscuits. Fun had no idea what they fed him that missing year, but he clearly wasn’t used to normal solid food.

The dark haired man shook his head lightly and went back to his opened radio. There was so much they still had to ask him. They tried it, of course, but Party almost didn’t speak, he communicated mainly by shrugging, nodding and gesticulations. If Ghoul hadn’t heard him that other night, he would think he lost his tongue. He shuddered at the thought of that. He didn’t want to think about other horrible things which could have happened to Party Poison. As if it was not enough. From the few sentences Fun got from him he found out that the redhead doesn’t remember much of his imprisonment. He was relived, a bit. But at the same time he pondered whether Party’s mind just suppressed the memories or if he got some kind of amnesia. But he remembered everything else, the guys, their Killjoying, the desert… Ghoul had no clue how a memory works, but he wasn’t going to try and force something out of Party. Never. 

Even though, it worried him that nobody knew how Party ended up in the desert. The red haired man managed to recall his awakening; he woke up in the middle of sea of sand, a gun beside him, a trail of his own footsteps running few meters but disappearing into nothing, vanished by the wind. He went by the sun in the direction that he remembered used to lead to a safe place. Ghoul assumed he had walked all day, because Party didn’t think he went in night, wasn’t sure, though. Kobra didn’t like it. He didn’t like that they didn’t know how his brother escaped. The tall blonde was now literally suspicious over every stone and stick he found, with every sound he pulled his blaster and when he was with Party he constantly tried to question him something. He tested his knowledge of what only the two of them could know, he urged him to remember something more of his imprisonment, like, if he hadn’t heard something, some information, or anything like that… But Party just assured him it was really him and on the questions of the past year he just shrugged his shoulders before he went back to his drawing. Ghoul understood Kobra’s vigilant behavior, but he just had to roll his eyes when he saw it. If it was him, he would glue himself to his again-found brother and never let go again. To be honest, Ghoul did exactly that anyway. The three of them took turns in watching over Party now, at last till he recovered. The redhead was still apathetic a lot, but with every day and night spend cuddled in Ghouls arms he grew more and more alive again. He might not talk, but tiny sparkles in his eyes made Ghoul smile. That’s why he enjoyed his every minute with him, basking in his pure presence. It didn’t matter if it was just silent company, like now, or if they were sitting outside of the Dinner, Party’s head on Ghoul’s shoulder while the dark haired man told him about everything that happened in his missed year. 

A distant roar of motor came from the outside. Ghoul looked to Party, who straightened and listened as well. The shorter man put down his tools and walked over to the window. Through dirt on the glass he saw a cloud of dust in the distance. He knew Kobra and Jet Star were supposed to be back sometime about now, but one could never be sure. His hand slowly went to his gun absentmindedly. After few minutes he recognized the colored hood of their Trans AM, though. He let out a relived breath and turned back to Party, who was tense like a string in his seat.

“Just Jet and Kobra, don’t worry,” he said and run a hand through his long hair. A moment later he felt like all of his blood left his body. There was a gunfight in the distance. With the roaring sound of the Trans AM came another ones, higher and faster, motorbikes perhaps. And all of that was coming closer quickly. Ghoul coursed and looked out the dirty window again. Now he saw the two Killjoys were persecuted. And by the size of the sand cloud it wasn’t just some random patrol. He curdes again and turned to Party, who rose from his seat and was watching him expectantly. 

“We have to go, now,” Ghoul said and went to the back room.  
He grabbed two traveling backpacks, which the group used on long raids and travels. He threw the smaller one to Party, who immediately started filling it with supplies. Ghoul did the same, though he was faster, because he could use his both hands. They took the most important things. Water, food, medicaments, ammo. Fun stuffed the backpack with as much as he could. They all knew what to do in these situations. The fact that guys went straight back to the Dinner even if the enemy was chasing them meant their shelter was discovered. And that meant they had very simple plan: grab what you can and don’t look back. And if possible: run as fast and as far as you can. He zipped the bag and swung it over one shoulder. He quickly checked on Poison and then went back to stare out the window to watch their doom and salvation in one. There was quite a gap between the Trans AM and white motorbikes, which increased their chances. Few Draculoids tried to shoot after them, but they were too far and missed everything. Fun saw Jet waving his hand out the car window to draw the attention of the two other Killjoys. The dark haired man drew his gun out and went for the door, softly touching Party’s arm as to keep him close. 

“When they stop the car, we must be fast, okay?” he said and held the redhead’s gaze.  
Poison nodded, but he had a strange expression on his face. He attributed it to fear, after all Poison suffered in hands of BLI and it was understandable he was afraid of them now. Bloody hell, even Ghoul was a little bit afraid and he wasn’t held captive for a year. The shorter man hesitated, but then pulled white blaster out of his bag. It was the one they found Party with. It wasn’t necessarily to give it to him until now. Moreover, they wanted to eliminate the chance of Party making a hole into one of them in another panic attack. Now Fun handed it to him.

“We will need every hand,” he muttered when Party looked at the gun, then at him and then at the gun again. His hazel eyes narrowed, but he carefully took the blaster eventually. Ghoul turned his attention back to the upcoming dreadstorm. Two hundred meters, one hundred meters… Ghoul opened the door so they could run out. Fifty. He saw Jet Star waving out the window again.

“Get in, quick!” he shouted at them. Kobra didn’t even stop fully, the car brakes screeching in the process, when Ghoul run out. Few blasts flew over his head, but they were far enough to not be a threat. He opened the door of the still moving car and literally jumped inside on the back seat. Party jumped at him. The door shut behind them and Kobra stepped on the gas again. The car wheels rose another sand cloud. Poison got up from flat Ghoul under him and sat on the seat behind driver. Ghoul straightened up and looked out the window on their persecutors. There were at least eight motorbikes, behind them one white car. And maybe behind that something else, who knows. Fortunately the short stop didn’t slow them that much, so they still had some lead. Fun stood up on the backseat and dragged his body through roof window. He missed few shots because of the car rumbling and sand dust, but he managed to hit the closest Drac and the creature crushed down and into the bushes along the road. Fun grinned, but had to hide back inside when few blasts flew near his head. 

“Where the hell did you get such a company?” he asked when he dropped back on his seat and holstered his gun again so he wouldn’t accidentally shoot a hole in anyone. He had to raise his voice a little to be heard over the roaring engine. 

“They were already heading your way when we met them. We kind of made a race of who would be here first,” Kobra said and every few seconds looked in the back mirror to check on the situation behind them. Apparently the Dracs weren’t such a good riders on sand, because the distance between them was slowly becoming bigger and bigger. With a frown Ghoul took some of spare cartridges out of his bag, handed two of them to Jet so he and Kobra would have enough ammo and one shoved inside his jacket pocket. He looked over at Party, who sat still with wide eyes and was holding his blaster so tight his knuckles went white. He put a hand on his shoulder and the redhead looked at him. Ghoul smiled reassuringly. They could do this, they had handled worse things than this and Kobra was good enough driver to get rid of them. 

“Then are giving up,” Jet Star said when he looked out the window and laughed. Ghoul grinned and watched too as the sand cloud behind them started to recede. The idiots of BLi didn’t know how to ride the desert. Suddenly Kobra yelped and the car swayed from side to side. Ghoul fell on his seat again and looked at the driver, alarmed. Party was leant forward over his front seat, left arm half-holding him in a headlock and blaster pointing at his temple. 

“Party, what the fuck are you doing?!” Kobra Kid shouted and struggled to keep the Trans AM on the road. The redhead tightened his hold.

“Stop,” he growled. Jet was watching him with wide eyes and he reached for his gun, but Poison just pushed the blaster more against his brother’s head. 

“Try something and he’s dead!” he hissed on the other two Killjoys. Ghoul was paralyzed with shock. What the hell was happening? Party didn’t look like a damn Party now, his eyes were emotionless and he regarded them like they were strangers. Fun felt like someone was slowly stomping on his heart and cracking it.

“I fucking told you he wasn’t okay, I fucking told you!” Kobra shouted angrily and slammed his hands on the steering wheel. Poison yanked his head back and dug the barrel of his gun into Kid’s temple. 

“Shut up and stop the car!” he barked at him. Kobra exhaled angrily. He had no choice, if he didn’t listen Poison would probably fry his brain and they would crash eventually. Ghoul slowly reached for his own blaster in his shoulder holster and watched Party warily, but the lad noticed his motion. 

“Hey!” he hissed and Ghoul froze. He wouldn’t be quick enough. Kobra Kid slowly put his foot from gas pedal and Trans AM started to slow down. Fun heard the motorbikes getting closer. God, this was bad. He had no idea what the redhead was doing, but this was so, so bad. The car came to stop and Kobra raised his hands from the steering wheel. Fun watched as the Dracs rode around them and started to encircle them. None of the Killjoys moved until there was white blaster pointing at them from every direction. Jet Star cursed quietly and Ghoul agreed. They were truly fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to left Kudos or comments, if you like ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the Sun burns you, sand cuts you, he hurts you.
> 
> Or: Where Party was lost... and turned back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! As i promised, new chapter is a little faster than the last one.
> 
> And I apologise, it is hurting. I assume. I does seem like that to me. You decide :P
> 
> Love you, signing from Czech <3

“Get out, hands above your head,” Party said and jerked his head at the car door. Both Jet and Ghoul hesitated, but when Poison just stared at them with empty eyes they slowly opened the door and got out, hands raised. 

“I swear to Witch, when this ends I will kick your ass, Party,” Kobra growled when his brother pushed him out of the car too. 

The read head said nothing to that, but was pointing the gun at the back of his head when he led him around the car to join the others. Ghoul scanned the enemies all around them and swallowed. If they had a cover, if they had their arms prepared… then maybe they could get out of this. But like this… especially with Poison standing behind their backs and pointing at their heads. He heard slow and sarcastic clapping from their right. From the white car long and lean figure stepped out. It was a guy, he had shinning snow white suit, boots and tie also, everything without a smear. Over his face he had black glossy mask, without eyes nor nose and mouth. Just a big black oval. But it seemed he could see through it, because with the clapping he went exactly in their direction. It was apparently one of the BLi’s Exterminators, but Ghoul let out a breath of relief that it wasn’t Korse nevertheless. 

“Well well well… what did we get here?” he said and his voice was like a liquid tar. He stood in front of the Killjoys trio. Ghoul couldn’t see his expression, but he was apparently looking thoroughly at every one of them. Black Face, how Ghoul decided to call him, tilted his head and put his hands behind his back. 

“Their guns,” he said calmly. Behind Ghoul there was a movement and his blaster was pulled from its holster. He turned his head a little bit and saw Party taking Jet’s and Kobra’s guns, too, after which he dropped them to Face’s feet and silently stood next to him. 

“Good boy,” the guy mumbled and from his pocket he pulled out a thick black metal circle with a buckle. One of the closest Dracs stood behind Party and caught his arms, when the lad tried to back away. Black Face grabbed his jaw to still him and closed the sinister collar around his neck. 

“Don’t touch him you fucker!” Ghoul shouted before he realized it. The tall man lazily turned his head to him.

“I will touch him when I want, and how I want,” he said and Ghoul almost saw the evil grin under the mask. He patted Party on the cheek and the Drac let go of him. Party flinched back from the touch and his fingers scrabbled on the metal collar tightly locked around his throat.

“Your friend is mine now. He belongs and listens only to me,” the man said to Ghoul, whose gaze could cause combustion of guy's eyeballs now. So this was it. This was what had been happening to Party when he had disappeared. He had been held by this… monster.

“Ha, and Korse said it wouldn’t be worth it to break him,” Black Face laughed and stepped closer to stare into their faces. He was moving with self-confidence and had no respect, nor self-preservation against Killjoys. When he was just few inches from Ghoul he tilted his head to the side pensively. 

“It would be so useful if we could tame all of you like that,” he sighed and shook his head. From behind him Party quietly whimpered as he was trying to unlock the collar. 

“Silence,” Black Face said when he turned his head to see redhead’s struggle. He pulled his sleeve up and revealed some kind of techno-watch. He pressed something on them. Ghoul froze with terror when Party screamed as an electroshock run through his whole body. His knees gave up and he fell on all fours into sand, where he writhed in convulsions and shook terribly for a while. Ghoul plunged at the man in front of him. His vision reddened with hate and wrath, but his fist didn’t land. Each of his arms was caught by one Draculoid and twisted behind his back. He growled like a wild animal and tried to kick around furiously, but managed just to send sand flying. Black Face laughed.

“I will rip your heart through your throat so you can taste it you son of a bitch!” Kobra shouted somewhere on Ghoul’s right. 

He turned his head to see he and Jet were held down, too. The man just shrugged and walked to Poison, who was still sitting on the ground hunched over and breathing heavily. He grabbed his fiery hair and forced his head up. Fun’s eyes were met with pair of hazel ones, wet with tears, terrified. Ghoul wanted to scream with frustration from this helplessness he was in as he looked at that pale yet still beautiful face. Because this wasn’t some unthinking Drac who didn’t have emotions and memories and anything left from a human being. This was Party, he still was the Party, just broken and used, by pain and suffering forced to do things he did. Ghoul saw all of that in his eyes. 

“Although it did take time before he yielded,” Black Face said pensively and turned back to Ghoul, “it was worth it. That year was worth it. What a shame the Director did not see that, I would have broken you all otherwise. Pity. At least I have my own precious toy.” 

He surely did smile behind the mask and run a hand through Party’s hair, like he was praising a dog. Fun wanted to disembowel him and hang him on his own guts. The guy with ease defeated Korse in Ghoul’s personal Hate rankings. After a moment Black Face straightened again and dragged the redhead with him. The lad shook dangerously and it seemed he will fall on the ground again, but Face grabbed him by the back of his neck and held him up with force. 

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have much time. I was genuinely hoping I won’t have to be quick when he led us to you after all,” he signed and leaned his head to Party’s, like he was whispering something to him. Then the man bent down and took Ghoul’s green blaster from ground and pressed it into Party’s hand, closing his fingers around it with his. 

“But we can at least enjoy this,” he laughed manically and nudged Party’s right hand. The redhead raised it shakily and aimed at Ghoul. The dark haired man stared with wide eyes into barrel of his own gun held by his best friend. He heard Jet and Kobra shout next to him, but he didn’t look away. His gaze moved behind the blaster at its current keeper. Party had his eyes shut tightly, but Ghoul could see tears streaming down his cheeks nevertheless. Black Face stood behind him, his fingers still gripping Party’s neck, but he was silent and just watching, his whole body vibrating with impatience. Ghoul tried to break away, but the Dracs only pulled his arms higher behind his back and he hissed in pain. 

“Party, don’t do it!” Kobra yelled but was silenced with a hard fist blow onto his stomach. 

“C’mon… kill him! I command you to kill him, and you know what will happen if you don’t listen to me,” Black Face hissed. Party shook and couldn’t suppress quiet sobs escaping his throat. Ghoul let his head fell down and signed. They will all die eventually. There was no sense in letting Party get more punishment and pain for disobeying. He looked at the read haired man again. 

“Party…” he said calmly. Poison opened his eyes and looked at him. Ghoul nodded and forced a tiny smile.

“It’s okay,” he whispered and through his chest run a strange warm feeling. So this will be the end? He will die by hand of his best friend. But if he can at least somehow help him like this, so be it. It’s not the worst way to go, Party is a good shooter, it will be quick.

“It’s okay…” he repeated quietly and with calm watched as Poison gripped the blaster tighter and took a deep breath.

Ghoul closed his eyes and ignored the frightened shouting next to him coming from other two Killjoys. He ignored quiet crazy laugh of the Exterminator, the sun burning on his skin, the hot wind around them. He was in peace.

But he couldn’t ignore when two quick shots were fired. His heart skipped a beat and breath got stuck in his throat. Everything was still for a moment, silent, unmoving… He was waiting for unbearable pain to kick in, but nothing happened. And then he heard gasping. The tight grab on his arms eased away and disappeared. He opened his eyes, confused. To his surprise there was no smoldering hole in his chest. He still had a body, his limbs, his head… more precisely: he wasn’t dead yet. Which could not be said about two Draculoids behind him, who slowly fell to the ground, smoke coming from their foreheads. Ghoul raised his eyes to look at the shooter. Poison stared back at him, his gaze a little bit shocked, but clear. He was still holding the green blaster prepared for another shot, and his lips stretched in small determined grin. Ghoul knew that expression. It was one of the faces Party used to make when there was no logic in his doing, but still it felt right somehow. Fun smiled widely. 

Everything started moving after that. The first one to react was Black Face. He yanked Party by his neck and threw him to the ground with furious roar. Ghoul dropped down and grabbed one of the Drac’s blasters. He rolled to the side and dodged blasts fired at him then shot one Drac in front of him right under the jaw. He turned and fired at the back of one who still held Kobra down while trying to execute him by blowing his head up. When he dropped dead with burned hole between his shoulder blades the tall blonde took his gun and shot the one wrestling with Jet Star. Then he jumped on his feet, rolled over the car hood in very inelegant manner and hid in cover behind the Trans AM. Jet Star joined him and together they started a gunfight with the remaining masked BLi soldiers. Ghoul didn’t pay attention to the Killjoy duo, even though there was no direct shooting in his direction. His look returned to the Bli’s officer, who was now standing over Party Poison. Ghoul’s blood went cold when he noticed the redhead was writhing on the ground again, spasms wrecking through his body. His mouth was open in mute scream, eyes shut tight as electricity run through his muscles. Black Face hovered over him, blaster in his right hand, his left hand grasping the remote controlling Party’s collar. Now Ghoul noticed the man was shouting. 

“You little bastard! Korse was right, you cannot be controlled! I should have killed you after I first caught you and had my way with you, it would be easier! I will fry your brain, you fucking whiny bitch!” he screamed at the boy in agony lying at his feet. Ghoul had no idea where the pure rage came from, but he was sure he would be able to turn the Trans AM over with his bare hands in that moment. 

“HEY!” he yelled and got on his feet. His surroundings were somehow muted, the shooting and shouting, there was nothing else than him and his target, who will be splashed into pieces on hot sand in a moment. 

Black Face turned to him and raised his gun, but he was not fast enough. A blast flew in the middle of his unseen face with a loud whizz. With a bloody scream he dropped his gun and grabbed his face, which was now full of black shards of his fractured helmet stabbed into his skin. Crimson streams run between his fingers down his hands and onto his white suit. If it was anybody else, Ghoul would be horrified and disgusted at what he had done to him. Yes, they killed people, but never brutally like that. But now he only bared his teeth and through his blooded palms he shot him again. Black Face’s face exploded in the rain of red droplets and sparks. His arms fell along his body and he swayed on his legs a little bit before he crashed into desert sand, lying unmoving and lifeless. Ghoul breathed heavily and stared at the malformed corpse in front of him. They say revenge doesn’t bring peace. That’s not right. It brings satisfaction and relief. Red fog slowly disappeared from Fun’s mind and he blinked and looked around over the little battlefield. Jet and Kobra were still covered behind Trans AM and shooting at Dracs and vice versa. Smell of burned flesh and blood was floating in the air, pungent and awful. Ghoul’s eyes fell on the figure lying next to the dead Exterminator. His lungs squeezed as he noticed Party’s otherwise limp body was still in spasms. He may have killed the man who caused it, but he didn’t stop it. His legs felt like they were made of lead when he willed his body to move forward. He had to turn it off, he had to or it will surely kill him…

“Ghoul, watch out!” The warning came a second too late. 

A sudden flash blinded him and sharp pain flared up from his side. He gasped and the world disappeared behind grey veil for a few seconds. He distantly noticed he fell and that his right flank burned like someone set him on fire. Everything around him swayed and seemed like under water. The sounds were muted and distant, his vision blurred. He raised his head with effort to look around. Just few meters away from him was corpse of the crazy Exterminator. He stretched his arms, tried to reach out and crawl, but he couldn’t get a hold of anything beside sand, which run through his desperate fingers. He only managed new pain to shot up his side. 

“Gee…” he wheezed silently and then his face hit the ground again, his cheek lying on warm sand. He felt himself slipping out of his own body, out of his head. Nothing hurt him anymore. He wasn’t hot, he wasn’t cold. He was just lying there and then he was…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you liked it!  
> Feel free to leave Kudos or comments, love ya!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I miss you, I miss you so far.... And the collision of your kiss, that made it so hard...
> 
> Or: This night, walk the dead and raised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well well well, we have the end here.  
> Hope you all enjoyed it, again, sorry for that long pouse between second and third chapter and for any mistakes (many, I suppose) I made, english isn't my native, still learning it at school.
> 
> Actually, I would really apriciate anyone who understands english and czech well, if I could ask for a cooperatin and a translator. I know there probably won't be anyone who would like to translate my stuff, but well, the asking won't hurt me :)
> 
> So, to all my fellow Killjoys, have a good day, good nigh, Hail Satan and goodbye <3

… gone. The though ended itself in his head and he opened his eyes again. He didn’t move for few moments and just stared. The Drac’s corpses were lying around him, but they were somehow… grey. Like somebody made them out of clay. The sky, the sky was different too. He recalled it was supposed to be day, probably, but the sky was dark purple and clouded, looking like spilled can of metallic paint. Ghoul blinked, confused, and shifted to lean on his elbows. Everything was quiet and calm, except some kind of thunder in distance. He didn’t remember when was the last time he heard a real storm. He looked at himself. He himself was still same. Same shirt, same jacket… even the wound on his right side was still there, not hurting at all, though. He wrinkled his nose a little and touched it carefully, but he felt nothing. No pain. He set up. Trans AM was still parked where he last saw it, but no Jet or Kobra in sight. He heard a rustle from behind him and turned. There, behind clay-like corpse of Black Face, was Party and hovering over him a strange figure. They were small, even smaller than Fun Ghoul. They were wearing a black… furry coat? It looked like some kind of mix between fur and feathers. It was long, touching the ground, but he saw thin and bony arms and legs under it, kind of reminding him of spider limbs. At the place where face should be was white shamanic mask, with big black holes as its eyes. Next to the stranger was standing a shopping cart full of all kind of things. Ghoul raised his eyebrows, but then he frowned. The figure was sitting next to Poison’s head and silently watching his unmoving features. Ghoul noticed just then that they were holding yellow mask. Party’s mask, the one that got lost with him a year ago.

“Hey, don’t touch him,” Fun said slowly, he felt like his tongue was made of wax, and knelt up. The creature lifted their head to him. Before the dark haired Killjoy managed to stand up on his wobbly legs, they rose from the ground and flew up to hover few inches above desert sand then grabbed handle of their cart and quickly took off into the darkness. The mask was still in their bird-like claws. 

“Hey!” Ghoul yelled again and unsteadily run after them. The creature flew quickly, but he managed to catch them. He reached out and took hold of their coat. The entity turned around sharply and Ghoul froze on the spot when two deep and dark hollows gazed at him. But they did nothing, just removed the coat from his grip gently. 

“Always action before thinking, right my dear Fun Ghoul?” They asked in quiet but clear voice. It wasn’t male’s nor female’s voice, not young nor old, but it sounded a little like a crow’s cawing. Dark haired man studied them for a moment. There was only one being this could be. 

“You are the Phoenix Witch, aren’t you?” he asked. The creature nodded. Ghoul let out a long breath he didn’t know he was holding and looked around at the ghost landscape again.

“Am I dead?” he asked.

“No. Not yet,” she answered and tilted her head.

“How?”

“Your time hasn’t come yet.”

Ghoul nodded and run a hand through his hair. His eyes dropped to the mask the Witch was still holding.

“What about Party Poison?” he questioned. He had a bad feeling that he already knew the answer. The Witch looked at the mask and then back at Ghoul.

“He is prepared for the Eternal ride,” she said. Fun felt hot tears slowly wetting his eyes and blinked.

“No. No, you can’t. You can’t take him, not yet,” he shook his head. The ghost looked at him curiously.

“He is prepared,” she repeated.

“Yeah, yeah I know, but… just don’t take him yet, please. You can’t take him away from me, not when I just got him back,” Ghoul whispered and stared at the mask in her hands. The Witch pressed it to her chest like she wanted to keep it safe. 

“Many have tried to bargain with me. Why should I let him go?” she asked calmly.

“Because… because we need him. I need him. I can’t return without him, and I will not,” he said quietly and wiped his eyes threatening to spill the tears. The ghost looked unconvinced and Ghoul signed tiredly. 

“Because… b-because I love him,” he whispered and closed his eyes. He never said it out loud. He always felt it, but never said it. And know there was no one else to tell it to beside the spiritual entity in front of him. 

“What do you offer for his life?” she looked at him at least. Fun blinked and wanted to think about it, but there was nothing to think about.

“Myself. My life,” he blurted. What else could he give? But the Witch shook her head.

“I don’t want your life. Your time hasn’t come yet.” 

Ghoul run a hand over his face with frustration.

“Then what do you want? The blood of a virgin, my firstborn?” he threw his hands up helplessly and made few steps away and back. When he looked back at her she seemed to actually ponder over his words. Oh shit, she will not want the virgin blood, will she? That would be pretty hard to get, in the Zones…

“There is something…” she said eventually. Ghoul stepped closer and waited, eyes wide.

“One day… there will be a girl. Young, defenseless, lost,” The Phoenix Witch said like it was some kind of prophecy. Ghoul nodded for her to continue and tucked his raven hair behind his ear. 

“You have to keep her safe, whatever it costs,” she finished and gazed at him with her well-like eyes. Ghoul raised his eyebrows. That was all? Just to protect some girl?

“Y-yeah, yeah! Sure, we will find her and protect her,” he nodded eagerly and his heart jumped with hope. He reached with his hand and looked at the mask again.

“Will you- will you return him to me now? Please?” he asked carefully. The Witch looked at him for a moment, but then she slowly placed Party’s mask in his open palm. Ghoul let out a breath of relief and held it tightly, his eyes closing for a few seconds.

“Remember of your promise. It will cost more, then you may think now…” the ghost said. Ghoul raised his head to look at her.

“I don’t care. I will fulfill it. And when you will want to take Party again, I’m going with him. My time or not, I’m not leaving him again,” he promised, saying nothing less than truth.

“I will remember that,” the Witch said nothing more as she raised her bony claw and lightly touched Ghoul’s forehead. The dark haired man felt himself fall back and prepared for a hard impact with ground. 

*

But none came. He inhaled sharply and warm air filled his lungs. The breathing seemed like the best drug ever and for a while he just enjoyed the feeling of being alive. He opened his eyes. He had to squint and blink a little to adjust to day light again, but he quickly recognized dead Dracs around him. And sounds of gunfight. He winced and moved. The reality of this reality was confirmed when sharp pain shot up his wounded side. Some damn lucky blast. He gasped and gritted his teeth as he pushed himself up on his elbows. The battle was still in the same point as before. Actually it seemed that not even a second had passed. Was it real? His little talk with the Phoenix Witch? Or was it just his imagination? His thoughts were thrown out the window when he spotted Party. With a pained whine he pushed himself forward and crawled the last meters to the corpse of the crazy man with blown up head. He stared for a while at the watch-like mechanism on his wrist, but he managed to turn it off somehow. Party’s body went limp. Fun didn’t know if he was glad or terrified about it. With heavy panting he crawled over the Exterminators corpse and got himself next to the unmoving Killjoy. Oh god, blood, so much blood. Red streams bled from his ears, his nose… they colored pale skin the same crimson as his hair. Ghoul laid his head down on Party’s chest and listened. He was so fussed he could only hear his own heartbeat, though. He cursed. He pulled himself closer so he could take Poison’s unmoving face into his hands. 

“Party… c’mon, Party…” he whispered and stroked his thumbs over redhead’s cheekbones. He was cold despite the hot weather around. Ghoul noticed the sounds of fight have stopped and the last Drac dropped dead. He tried to ignore Kobra’s heartbreaking scream when he saw the dead-cold body of his brother, and how Jet Star held him tightly around shoulders as the tall blonde fell on his knees in tears. Ghoul focused on the man below him, on his so familiar features. 

“C’mon, don’t leave, okay? We haven’t agreed on this,” corners of Fun’s mouth twitched up but salt hot tears dwelled in his eyes. 

“She gave you back to me, so wake up… please wake up,” he sobbed and his voice broke. He closed his eyes tightly. He leaned his forehead on Party’s and let the tears stream down his face. She promised, she promised…

“You can’t leave me here, I cannot do it again without you,” he whispered and stroked gently Poison’s cheeks, smearing the blood over his soft skin. 

“I will not let you go, you understand?” he took a deep breath and lifted his head a little so he could look at him. He pushed his red hair out of his face and smiled desperately. 

“There is so much we still have to do. You have to stay here with me to finish it, okay? I need you, Gee…” he said and swallowed past his sob clenched throat. 

“I-I love you…” he breathed. He said it. He did it. He closed his eyes as he sobbed again and softly placed his lips on Party’s. It was just a light touch and he tasted like blood, but it was so… so…

“I love you, Gee,” he whispered against the kiss. He wrapped his arms around Poison’s limp body and hid his face in the crook of his neck.

Then, sharp inhale. Gasping for air, coughing. Ghoul’s eyes shot open and he lifted himself to see a pair of wide bewildered hazel orbs staring back at him. He pulled back a little and strangled laugh tore itself out of his throat. Party’s eyes shot around and he seemed somewhat panicked and terrified. He opened his mouth few times without a sound before he made a tiny whine. Ghoul grinned stupidly and hugged him again, holding him tightly in his arms. 

“You little fucker, you heard it, didn’t you?” he laughed and cried at the same time. He felt Party nod slightly. Ghoul’s hand started stroking his hair and he didn’t care that he looked like a hypersensitive teenage girl. He pushed himself up after a while to look at him again. The redhead looked dizzy and sleepy, his eyes closing and opening with visible effort, but he managed a tiny smile. 

“I love you, Party Poison,” Ghoul smiled back at him and rubbed his thumb over his cheek bone. 

Party opened his mouth to say something back, but when his voice betrayed him even for a third try, Ghoul shut him up with another kiss.

“I know,” he whispered. Party smiled lightly and let himself be held in safe arms. 

So, The Witch kept her word. Ghoul had no idea if their meeting was just a dream or if he really talked with her on the border of life and death. All he knew was she kept her promise, so he would keep his.

 

About two months later the Fabulous-again-Four met a little girl named Grace.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!  
> Please, leave kudos <3  
> And if you will comment, you will be my hero :)


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